mock strawberry
Potentilla indica
Despite its striking resemblance to a wild strawberry, it belongs to a different genus (Potentilla) and its red fruits are almost completely flavorless.
- Scientific name
- Potentilla indica
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Rosales › Rosaceae › Potentilla
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Moist woodland edges, lawns, gardens, and disturbed grassy areas.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (produces energy from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide).
- Range
- East Asia, South Asia, North America, Europe
- Size
- Ground-hugging creeper, up to 10 cm tall, with runners spreading up to 1 meter.
- Lifespan
- Perennial (individual plants live for several years, spreading indefinitely via runners).
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Minimal; it is highly adaptable and often acts as an invasive weed, facing few natural threats in introduced ranges.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Mock strawberry is completely safe to touch and its fruit is non-toxic, though dry and tasteless. It can be easily distinguished from true wild strawberries by its yellow flowers (instead of white). No special precautions are needed.
Duchesnea indica (sometimes called Potentilla indica ), known commonly by the names mock strawberry , Indian strawberry , or false strawberry , is a strawberry-like plant that has foliage and an aggregate accessory fruit similar to that of a true strawberry, though this is apparently an independent evolution of the similar fruit type. It has yellow flowers, unlike the white or slightly pink flowers of true strawberries. It is native to eastern and southern Asia, but has been introduced to...
Photo: Alpsdake, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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